Correctional Services Department - Hong Kong

The Customer

Hong Kong's Correctional Service Department operates 12 institutions with around 1,000 staff.

The Challenge

Communication in prisons is critical so Tait worked closely with the Department to ensure it supplied the right communications solution for its needs. The eight site TaitNet trunked radio system provides coverage to the 12 institutions and also connects with an existing conventional radio
network that provides coverage across the whole island.

The staff use more than 1,000 Intrinsically Safe portable radios to communicate. As part of the customised solution Tait supplied 18 wired dispatcher terminals. These terminals enable dispatchers to connect different groups of users, such as low-tier radios to the telephone network.

The Solution

Users with high-tier portable radios with keypads have automatic access to the Department's PABX and the Hong Kong telephone network. Tait customised a special feature that warns prison guards when they are in areas with little or no radio coverage, enabling them to take suitable precautions.

The standard TaitNet network was further customised to meet the Department's needs by providing a conversation recording facility. The customer chose a system with two nodes, one on hot stand-by. A popular TaitNet feature - Dynamic Regrouping - is used by the Department to change the composition of call groups over the network.

Since installing the Hong Kong system, Tait has also won contracts to supply MPT 1327 trunked radio systems for Beijing and Tianjin Prisons on mainland China.

Tait is the largest supplier of MPT 1327 trunked radio networks to the Chinese civil police - the Gongan - having provided more than 70 networks for voice and data communications.